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Hello, Norwegian Star is in Acapulco today and we have the "dreaded" norovirus. Something like 4-5% of the ship have symptoms, pax and crew. It has gotten to the point where the management has had the crew serve guest at the buffets and do a full ship sanitization program, but this brings up another issue.
The shipboard management has decide that they don't have enough staff to serve all the guest by hand and to serve the crew in the messes, so starting tomorrow they are going to have the dancers, singers, musicians, youth councilors and cruise staff all take turns serving food to other crew members in the mess rooms. I do not understand how having people with absolutely no food handling training serving food to crew, who will then serve pax, will help to bring about an end to this norovirus outbreak. Any comments on this ridiculous situation onboard the Star.

I am sure there will be shortly. By having people hand out the food instead of self service, some transmission can be reduced. Also it doesn't take long to train someone to hand out the food put on gloves and pile the food on a plate....and not allow anyone going through the line to touch the food or the utensils.

I can't see the problem here really. Its only necessary to follow simple hygiene rules to contain the outbreak.
I am sure the crew members will be under strict instructions what to do and what not to do and will do it right.
What will determine the length of the outbreak will be whether the passengers do what they are told.
Of course IF ALL the passengers had done what they were told in the beginning - observing quarantine - proper and frequent hand washing and use of sanitising gel etc the outbreak would never have got so bad in the first place.
I am no cheerleader for NCL or any other cruise line but credit where credit is due - they do a good job containing these passenger caused outbreaks.

Yes, I only have one post because I am a crew member onboard the Star and they don't really like us posting things about the ship on websites. i just thought that its really stupid to have the entertainers and cruise staff serve food in the crew messes and didnt know if this violated a usph regulation. I would think that it would since if you work with food back home in the US you have to have a food handlers card and since the Star is under usph rules, i thought they would apply. I joined the ship in august during the Alaska season and leave in a few more months. Maybe I have one post but my info is completely true. And we had the GI before we got to Acapulco. We have been at sea for two days and only docked today at noon.

If the OP has posted using his real name - and who would invent the name he is using? - he might be leaving the ship a little sooner than he thinks.
Does he not realise that NCl regularly read these forums? They don't reply but they take note of them.

Anyway he sounds like a sea lawyer to me.

And IF he is genuine does he have a better plan then the Senior officers to deal with the crew shortage?

Its amazing how he just came across the CC site when he thought he could get NCL into some trouble isn't it?

a food handlers card? Not even in NY City(only the person in charge needs to be certified)....I think it might be someone who doesn't want to do food service.

NCL already fired one person who did postings. If you are on the ship they know what time this posting was done and if you used a company computer they can find out who was on the computer at that time......

if I were you I would ask the hosts to remove this thread. You do it by clicking on the little red triangle with the ! in it and asking that it be removed....

Wipe with the Clorox wipes and squeeze the alcohol ones into your mouth. You might still get sick but you wont care as much!
Seriously, take the wipes and a small bottle of hand sanitizer. Use it onshore and frequently on the ship. It cannot hurt.

Hello, Norwegian Star is in Acapulco today and we have the "dreaded" norovirus. Something like 4-5% of the ship have symptoms, pax and crew. It has gotten to the point where the management has had the crew serve guest at the buffets and do a full ship sanitization program, but this brings up another issue.
The shipboard management has decide that they don't have enough staff to serve all the guest by hand and to serve the crew in the messes, so starting tomorrow they are going to have the dancers, singers, musicians, youth councilors and cruise staff all take turns serving food to other crew members in the mess rooms. I do not understand how having people with absolutely no food handling training serving food to crew, who will then serve pax, will help to bring about an end to this norovirus outbreak. Any comments on this ridiculous situation onboard the Star.

Doesn't sound ridiculous at all to me , in fact it seems forward thinking. It is not real difficult to teach some one to wear gloves and server food. Now, having said that it is not meant to claim that the servers are not trained and know a lot. However, serving fellow crew mates, is a lot different than serving passengers. Think of it more like serving at the table at home as opposed to in a fancy place and you will realize that it is a great idea.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevejohnsmith22

Yes, I only have one post because I am a crew member onboard the Star and they don't really like us posting things about the ship on websites. i just thought that its really stupid to have the entertainers and cruise staff serve food in the crew messes and didnt know if this violated a usph regulation. I would think that it would since if you work with food back home in the US you have to have a food handlers card and since the Star is under usph rules, i thought they would apply. I joined the ship in august during the Alaska season and leave in a few more months. Maybe I have one post but my info is completely true. And we had the GI before we got to Acapulco. We have been at sea for two days and only docked today at noon.

Just to let you know, that you do not have to have a food handlers permit in all states. That is more of a local requirement. (Not saying it is not a good thing, just that it is not required everywhere.)

Last edited by zqvol; January 22nd, 2008 at 06:40 PM.
Reason: Combined two posts

I know they have them..but that would just be for bacteria, and won't do much in our room. I thought the clorox or alcohol worked on the viral, or do I have it backwards? I use a lot of soap and water, before and after meals, but for wiping down things like our phone, our door knobs in our room..I assume that would be clorox wipes?

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeyer418

No NCL has handwash stations before every food service area....but you can do it if it makes you feel better.

Hello, Norwegian Star is in Acapulco today and we have the "dreaded" norovirus. Something like 4-5% of the ship have symptoms, pax and crew. It has gotten to the point where the management has had the crew serve guest at the buffets and do a full ship sanitization program, but this brings up another issue.
The shipboard management has decide that they don't have enough staff to serve all the guest by hand and to serve the crew in the messes, so starting tomorrow they are going to have the dancers, singers, musicians, youth councilors and cruise staff all take turns serving food to other crew members in the mess rooms. I do not understand how having people with absolutely no food handling training serving food to crew, who will then serve pax, will help to bring about an end to this norovirus outbreak. Any comments on this ridiculous situation onboard the Star.

GIVE ME A BREAK !!! YET ANOTHER NEW POSTER WITH NEGATIVE INFORMATION ABOUT NCL.

Geez this topic sure does bring out a lot of opinions! I thought I knew what to do to try to prevent myself and my family from getting this illness. But I thought I should check, so I went to CDC's website. There was some helpful information there. I thought I would just give the link here so that if anyone else wants to see what they have to say, they can do so.

They should put little bottles of hand sanitizer in each cabin upon embarkation!